Drying apparatus



H. BUCKHAM DRYING APPARATUS Fil June 12, 1920 Y H. B. BUCKHAM DRYINGAPPARATUS Jan. 29, 1924. H. B. BUCKHAM DRYING APPARATUS Filed June 12,1920 s Sheets-Sheet 4 Jan. 29', 1924.

H. B. BUCKHAM DRYING APPARATUS 5 Shets-Shest 5 Filed June I 12 1920JZUGW Patented Jan. 29, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEFICE.

HENRY B. BUCKHAM, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE ALLBRIQHT-NELLCOMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

DRYING APPARATUS.

Application filed June 12, 1920. Serial No. 388,504.

To all whomz't may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY B. BUCKHAM, a citizen of the United States,residing 'in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvementin Drying Apparatus, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to drying apparatus, which is particularlydesigned for drying hair in twisted or roped form, although notnecessarilylimited in its application to this use.

()ne of the particular objectsof the inven tion is the provision of adrying apparatus which insures efiicient handling of the material in theapparatus and also with respect to its delivery and discharge to andfrom the apparatus, and which provides a most effective circulation ofthe air through the apparatus by a system permitting complete control ofthesflow to, from, and through the apparatus and also permittingoptional discharge or recirculation of the air that has been utilized inthe drying operation.

In addition to the gcneralobject recited above. the invention has forfurther objects such other improvements or advantages in constructionand operation as are found to obtain in the structures and deviceshereinafter described or claimed.

In the accon'ipanying drawings. forming a part of this specification,and showing, for purposes of exemplification, a preferred form andmanner in which the invention may be embodied and practiced. but withoutlimiting the-claimed invention specifically to such illustrativeinstance or instances.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional elevation through adryingapparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33 of Fig. 1

Fig. 4 is a trai'isvorsc vertical sectional elevation on the line 4-4 ofFig. l

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the drying apparatus looking from theright-hand side of Fig. 1;

-Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical sectional elevation on the line 66 ofFig. 2; I

Fig. 7 is an enlarged cross sectional View of one of the walls of thedrying chamber;

Fig. 8 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the overhead conveyersystem hereina tter' more fully described Fig. 9 is an end elevation ofthe turntable tracks and trolley. forming a part of the aforesaidoverhead conveyer system Fig. 10 is a front elevation of the bars shownin Fig. 9; and r Fig. 11 is a fragmentary plan V ew of the flooring of adrying compartment.

Thesame characters of reference indicate thesame parts throughout theseveral views.

In its present embodiment, the invention is incorporated in a dryingapparatus that I is especially designed for drying hair in twisted orrope form, and, for convenience, thepresent description will be confinedto this use of the'invention. Features of construction are. however,readily'susceptible of other valuable applications and consequently, thescope of the invention is by no means contined to the specific use andspecific embodiment herein described as an illustrative example.

Referring to the drawings. there is illustrated a drying chamber 11having a transversely extending delivery passage 12 at one end thereofand divided by a longitudinal partition wall 13 into a plurality ofdrying compartments 11. there being in the present instance two of. suchcompartments respectively located on the opposite sides of the aforesaidpartition 13. The receiving ends of the said compartments 14respectively communicate with the delivery passageway 12 by means ofpairs ot'swinging doors 15 and the discharge ends of these compartments14 are similarly provided with pairs of swinging doors 16. the latteropening directly into the room in which the drying chamber is situated.Supported by suitable brackets 17 depending from'the ceiling 18 of thedrying compartment are two pairs of overhead parallel tracks 18. Thesepairs of tracks respectively extend longitudinally through the twodrying compartments 1 1 as shown more particularly in Fig. 3. In thedelivery passageway 12 similar depending brackets 11' support a numberof track rails arranged end to end with respect to each other, as shownin Fig. 3, and extending longitudinally of the delivery passageway buttransversely of the aforesaid pairs of tracks 18. These delivery passagetrack rails include two track rails 19 respectively positioned in frontof the receiving end of the aforesaid drying compartments 1 1, aconnecting track rail section 20, for permitting delivery from the rail19 positioned adjacent to the inlet of the delivery passagewayf12 to'theother rail 19 which is remote from said inlet. A similarly supporteddelivery track rail 21 extends through the inlet 22 of the passageway 12and permits delivery to the track rail 19 adjacent to the said inlet 22.

The material to be dried in the compartments 14 of the drying chamber isdeposited in drying cages 23. conveniently made substantiallyrectangular in form as shown and having reticulated walls to permit freepassage of the drying agent through the material contained within saidcages. These cages are respectively provided with dumping bottoms 25constituted of pairs of hinged panels 26 adapted to be held together inclosed position by releasable latches 27, which when released permit.the panels to swing beneath the cages and allow the material to fallout. Pivotally mounted on the top of each cage are two trolley supports28 respectively located at the opposite ends of the cage as shown in Fi6, Each trolley support 28 is convenient y constructed of a bar 29suitably secured to the upper end of 'a vertical pivot pin 30 andprovided with an inverted U-shaped portion 31 at its upper end, saidportion 31 constituting a yoke having bearings 32 in its opposite sidesfor the support of a trolley-wheel 33. \Vith this construction. the cage23' may be moved in directions parallel with both its sides and itsends. When the trolley supports 28 are rotated so that the horizontalaxes 34 of the trolley wheels are parallel with each other, the cage maybe moved in a direction parallel with its sides and along a singletrack. On the other hand, if the trolley supports 28.:11'0 turned sothat their axes 34 are in line with each other and the trolley wheelsare parallel witheach other the cage may be moved in a directionparallel with its ends and along a double track.

In their movement through the inlet 22 and in the delivery passageway12, the cages travel suspended from a. single track in a directionparallel with their sides, but when moving in the compartments 14 of thedrying chamber the cages travel in a direction parallel with their endsand suspended from a double track. ing from the delivery passageway 12to either of the compartments-14 of the drying chamber they arenecessarily shifting their direction of movement to one approximately atright angles to their former direction of movement in the passageway 12and are being transferred from a single.

track support to a double track support. Such shift in the direction ofmovement of the cages is moreover effected without bodily turning thecages. In order to efi'ect transfer of the cages from the end to end\Vhile the cages are passpositioned rails in the delivery passagewayl2,to the parallel pairs of rails in the drying compartments 14, thereare provided at the pended by a spiiidle 37 hung from a beam 38 locatedadjacent to the ceiling of the delivery passageway 12. Pivoted at 38 onthe opposite end faces of the bracket 36 is a clip 89 provided with arecess. 4:0 for receiving the upper end of the trolley support 28, whenthe latter is supported by the rail sections 35', to prevent the trolleywheel 33 from rolling ofi the rail section 35 during the swingingmovement of the bracket 36. Each bracket 36 is provided with aprojecting arm 41 pivotally connected by means of a link 42' with onearm 43 of a bell crank lever pivoted at 44. in any suitably supportedfixed bracket. The other arm at?) of said bell crank lever is pivotallyconnected to an operating rod 46, which extends to the lower portion ofthe passageway 12 so as to be within convenient reach of an operatorstationed within such passageway.

From the discharge end of each of the compartments 14, the cages may beconveyed to aligned rail sections 19 and transferred to such dischargingrail sections by means of similarly operated track sections 35 whereupon,the cages may be pushed out on to the discharge track 47. Connectingthe rail sections 19 is av rail section 20 similar to that provided inthe passageway12, to permit movement of a cage from one section 19 tothe other.

Theoperation of transferring each of the cages from the aligned track inthe delivery passageway 12 to a pair of tracks in one of thecompartments 14, or of transferring a is desired to move a cage from thedelivery passageway 12 into a compartment 14 of the drying chamber, thecage is pushed or otherwise propelled along the track 21 with itstrolley wheels 33 in alignment with each other, until the trolley wheelsat' the opposite ends of the cage have been respectively moved on to theswingable rail sections 35 located at the opposite ends of one of therail sections 19. When positioned on the rail sections 35, the cage islocked against movement by means of the clips 39 engaging the upper endsof the trolley supports 28, in the manner shown in Figs. 9 and 10. Therods 46 are then operated to swing the brackets 36 that support the railsections 35 into positions in alignment with the pair of track rails 18.Such swinging movement of the brackets 36 causes the trolley supports atthe opposite ends of a cage to swing independently of the cage and turnthe trolley wheels 33 into parallelism with each other. After this hasbeen accomplished, the trolle wheels of the cage may be readily movedoti the rail sections 35 and on to the pair of rails 18, whereupon thedoors 15 of a compartment 14 may be opened and the cage pushed into saidcompartment. In filling a compartment the cages are pushed from thedelivery passageway 12 one after the other along into the far end of thecompartment and when the material in all of the cages of a compartmenthas been properly drie th doors 16 at the far end of a compartment areopened, the cage is moved out of the compartment, transferred to thesingle track located at the discharge end of the drying chamber, andfinally moved to a suitable point for disposing of the dry materialwithin the cage.

The division of the drying chamber into a plurality of compartments allconnecting.

with the delive passageway 12 and having independent tro ley conve ersystems above, all of which connect wit the single track trolleyconveyer systems at the inlet and discharge ends of the drying chamber,provides a very simple arrangement for controlling the independentdelivery and discharge of material with respect to each of such d ingcompartments. Thus the operation of h ling one compartment or emptyingthe same may be carried on while material is being dried in anothercompartment.

The material contained within the cages positioned in the drying comartments 14 is.

dried by means of hot air an the means for insuring the flow andcirculation of this air through the material constitutes an importantfeature of tlie invention. Located beyond the delivery passageway 12 isa blower chamber 48 Within which is mounted a blower or fan 49, in theresent instance, of the centrifugal type and iaving inlets 50, 51 in itsopposite sides. The blower 49 may be chamber 48, as shown in Figs. 3 and4. Communicating with the inlet 56 at the upper end of the air chamber48 is a heating cham-- ber 57 preferably heated by means of a series ofsteam coils 58 around which the air circulates before passing into theblower chamber 48. Positioned above the ceiling of the drying chamberand located at the receiving end thereof is an intake passageway 59having a side inlet 60 which may be placed in communication with or shuton from the intake 59 by means of adamper 61, shown more particularly inFigs. 1 and 2. The damper 61 is preferably of the shutter type, that isto say, it consists of a plurality of parallel pivoted blades adapted tobe opened and closed in unison by means of suitable connections 62extending to. the lower portion of the delivery passageway 12.- When thedamper 61 is opened the outside air flows into the intake 59 thencethrough the heating chamber 57 into the blower chamber 48 and throughthe inlets 50 and .51, the hot air is drawn into the blower andsubsequently discharged through the outlet 63 of the blower into an airchamber 64 from which the air may be directed to either one or bothofthe compartments 14 of the drying chamber. This distributing chamberextends down to and beneath the floor of the delivery passageway 12, andsaid distributing chamber 64 is provided with outlets 65 respectivelylocated in its opposite sides and the flow through said out-lets may becontrolled individually by means of dampers 66 located respectively inthe outlets. These dampers 66 are also preferably of the shutter typeand are adapted to be opened and closed independently of each other bymeans of operating connections 67 extending to the passageway 12. Oneoutlet from the distributing chamber 64 leads to one compartment 14whereas the other outlet of said distributing chamber leads to the othercompartment.

The floor of each compartment 14 is constructed of latticework 68,shownin detail in Fig. 11 and between the latticedfioor 68 of eachcompartment 14 and the bottom 69 thereof there is formed a channel 70for the passage of hot air discharged by the blower and from which theblast of hot air is directed through the floor 68 into the entirecompartment 14. In order to insure flow of the air blast to and throughthat end of the compartment which is remote from the distributingchamber 64, there is provided beneath the floor 68 of each compartment aseries of bafiies 71 which serve to equalize and distribute the flowthroughout the entire compartment, as well as to pre ventshort-circuit-ing of the flow in the inlet end of the compartment. Thesebattles 71 are pivotally mounted just below the level of the floor 68and are respectively provided with adjusting levers 7 2 which cooperatewith rack segments 73 for holding the battles 71 in adusted position. Bymoving the individual levers 72 of the battles 71 the inclination of thebafiles may be varied independently of each other. These bafiles 71 arelocated at intervals beneath the floor of the compartment 14 andprogressively increase in length toward the remote or discharge end ofthe compartment, that is to say, the shortest baflle is located nearestthe outlet of the distributing chamber 64 whereas the longest bafiie islocated adjacent to the discharging end of the compartment. Preferablythe bottom 69 of the compartment curves up to the floor 68 at thedischarging end of the compartment, as shown at 74 thereby preventingpocketing of the air beyond the longest baffle 71.

Discharging through the floor 68 of a compartment 14, the hot air risesin the compartmentand flowing through the material contained in thecages 23 rapidly dries out the material. In order to direct the fiow ofthe air through the cages and prevent the flow from passing entirelyalong their sides or ends, the opposite side walls of each compartmentare provided with a series of deflecting plates 75 pivoted at theirbottom edges and movable into inclined position for engaging theopposite ends of the cages 23 disposed within said compartments, asshown more particularly in Fig.- 6. In filling or emptying a compartmentthe deflecting plates 75 may be readily'moved into upright position toprevent interference with the movement of the cages through thecompartments and when the cages have been positioned within thecompartment the (letlecting plates are moved into the inclined positionsshown to direct the air through the cages.

The air discharges through the ceiling 18 of each of the compartments 14into a discharge channel 76 which communicates with each compartmentthrough series of clongated discharge outlets 77 disposed at intervalsin the ceiling of each compartment, as shown in Fig. 2. For each suchseries of discharge outlets 77 there is provided an individual slidedamper 78 adapted to be operated to restrict or increase the flowthrough the series of outlets 77 which it controls. As stated, thesedampers and outlets extend along the ceiling of each compartment and theflow from the compartment may thus be adjusted atpra-ctically any pointtherealong. The respective dampers 77 of each compartment are providedwith individual operating rods 78 all of which extend through the outerside wall, as shown in Fig. 2, in order to permit adjustment of thedampers from the exterior of the drying chamber.

Communicating with the discharge channel 7 6 is an outlet passageway 79fort-he air. The flow through this outlet passageway 7 9 may be openedor cut off by means of a shutter damper 80 adapted to be operated byconnections 81. When the damper 80 is open the discharged moist airflows through the passageway 79 to the atmosphere. If desired, thedamper 80 may be closed after the material in a drying chamber 1a hasbeen partially dried. By also closing the dam )er 61 in the inlet 60 thedischarged air flowing through the channel 76 may be recirculated backto the coils 58 in the heating chamber and thence blown back through thematerial in the drying compartment. This permits the utilization of theheat in the discharged air, with the result that highly superheated airfor completing the drying operation may be produced without increasingthe supply of steam to the coils During the preliminary dryin stages,however, the discharged air is laden with moistureand it is desirable topermit the air to pass out the discharge passageway 79 by opening thedamper 80.

The walls of the drying chamber are preferably constructed of spacedmetallic plates 82, 83 with an interposed layer of asbestos or otherheat insulating material. This wall construction reduces the radiationof heat through the walls to the atmosphere and thus enhances theefiiciency of the drying apparatus.

The invention as' hereinabove set forth as embodied in'a particular formof construction but may be variouslv embodied within the scope of theclaims hereinafter made.

I claim:

1. In a drying apparatus, in combination: a drying chamber divided intoa plurality of compartments, each adapted to be opened fromcnd to endfor the free passage therethrough of containers supporting the materialto be dried; a blower; a heating cham- IOU her for supplying heated airto the inlet of said blower; a distributing chamber receiving the hotair discharged by said blower and adapted to feed such air to any ofsaid compartments; and means for individually controlling the feed ofair from said distributing chamber to any one of said compartments; andmeans for selectively causing an open and closed circulation of airthrough said compartments, substantially as specified.

2. In a drying apparatus, in combination: a drying chamber divided intoa plurality of compartments; a blower; a heating chamber for supplyingheated air to the inlet of said blower; a distributing chamber receivingthe hot air discharged by said blower and adapted to feed such air to anof said comartments; means for indivi ually controling the feed of airfrom said distributing chamber to any one of said compartments; andmeans for optionally permitting the air discharged from a compartment torecirculate back to said heating chamber, or to dis charge into theatmosphere; substantially as specified.

3. In a dryin apparatus, in combination:

ing the hot air discharged by said blowerand adapted to feed'such air toany of said compartments; means for individually controlling the feed ofair from said distributing chamber to any of said compartments; aplurality of containers suspended for longitudinal movement throu h saidcompartments, said containers hem of ret1cu-' ated structure to permitthe re atively unobstructed circulation of heated air there through; andmeans for controlling the individual flow ofair through each of saidcompartments; substantially as specified.

4. In a drying ap aratus, in combination: a drying chamber divided intoa plurality of compartments, each adapted to be opened from end to endfor the free pamagetherethrough of containers supporting the-material tobe dried, a transverse passage way communicating with each of saidcompartments, means for selectively deliverin containers from saidpassage way to said compartments; a blower,.a heating chamber forsupplying heated air to the inlet of said blower; a distributin chamberreceivin the hot air discharge by said blower and adapted to feed suchair to an of said compartments; means for indivi ually controlling thefeed of air from said distributing chamber to any one of saidcompartments;

\ and means for equalizing the flow through each of said compartments;substantially as specified.

5. In a drying apparatus, in combination: a drying chamber divided intoa plurality of compartments, each adapted to be opened from end to endfor the free passage therethrough of containers supporting the materialto be dried; a transverse delivery passage way communicating with saidcompartments; means for optionally sup lying an air blastto any one orall of said partments; and means for selectively deiivering saidcontainers from said transverse delivery passage way tosaidcompartments; substantially as specified. v

6. In a drying apparatus, in combination: a drying com artment openedfrom end to end for the rec passage therethrough of containerssupporting the material to be dried; atransverse delivery passage wayCOIIl-' adjacent to said compartment; means for controllingcommunicationbetween said de livery passage way and said compartment Imeans for supplying an airblast to sai compartment; means for heatingsaid air blast; and means for optionally recirculat.'-

individually adjustable bafiies depen ing from the reticulated floorofthe compartment; and means for supplying a gaseous drying mediumtorthe bottom of said compartment; substantially as specified.

8. In a dr 'ng apparatus, in combination:

van elongate drying compartment provided with a reticulated fioorlocated above the bottom of said compartment; a plurality ofindividually adjustable dampers of varying lengths depending from thereticulated floor of said compartment; and means for supplymg a gidsaicompartment; substantially as speci- 9. In a drying apparatus, incombination:

an elongated drying compartment having anoutlet in its top and areticulated floor located above its bottom; an inlet located at one endof and at the bottom of said compartment; and a plurality of battlesdepending at intervals from the reticulated floor of said compartmentand of progressively increasing lengths from the inlet end to the farend of said compartment substantially v seous drying medium to thebottom vidually adjusting the angular inclination v of the individualbafiles; substantially as specified.

11. A drying, apparatus, having a plurality of parallel dryingcompartments, each adapted to be opened from end to end for the freepassage therethrough of containers supporting the material to be dried,combined with a delivery passageway intersecting all of saidcompartments for permitting said containers to be distributed at willinto tion: a plurality of parallel compartments,

each adapted to be opened from end to end said compartment andcommunicably confor the free passage therethrough of connectedtherewith; a common source of hot tainers supporting the material to bedried; air supply; and means for permitting the 10 a delivery passagewayintersecting all of heated air to flow at will individually into saidcompartments for permitting the coneach of said hot air channels;substantially tainers to be distributed at will into any of asspecified.

them; a hot air channel extending along each I HENRY B. BUCKHAM.

